Politics aside, whether you think our troops are out there to liberate people or markets at the end of the day service men and women are putting their lives at risk daily.

It cant be much fun to be apart from loved ones at winterval so I am asking people of JoC to bring a little Christmas cheer to our troops by sending packs of supplies, food and presents to our troops in Iraq (I'm too late for Afghan).

Last year loads of goodies were sent to forces personnel yet the MOD has brought in rules which have changed everything. You can no longer send parcels at crimbo simply to 'a service man or woman'. They have to personally addressed. BUT I know someone with a list of soldiers who have asked to receive parcels for themselves and to distribute to colleagues.

If you can help, I want people of JoC to send shoe boxes full of goodies as soon as possible.

ALL PACKAGES UNDER 2KG FOR TROOPS WILL BE SENT OUT FREE OF CHARGE BY THE ROYAL MAIL.

THEY HAVE TO BE READY BY DECEMBER THE 10TH.

For some ideas try;

Magazines (though please be aware of what is culturally acceptable in Iraq)
Soap
Biscuits (though not chocolate ones)
Packs of Tissues
Pick n mix sweets
Soup Sachets
Deodorants (only roll-on)

Please send as many shoe boxes under 2KG (So no dead babies or dolphins) as you can manage and bring a little bit of crimbo cheer to our troops.

The list of troops will not be made public but post in here when your shoebox is ready, what you’re sending and I will contact you!

Oh and if someone could make this News so it ends up in everyone’s email box it would be greatly appreciated!

consider it done...good man.

Great idea Royal Mail doing this. My brother was so happy when he got something sent over, keeps morale up.

my brother and sister are both in the air force and for the 1st time in 8 years they are both home for christmas.
one of the best things to pack is popcorn and old fashioned type sweets.

Cool I'm willing to bring some christmas to our troops where do I need to send it?

Danny will sort it mate

Nice one mate, Ive sent you a PM.

Some more Ideas of things to send ...

A card!
Paperback books
Puzzle Books
Cards

Reckon they've got CD players out there?

Im sure there will be something!

Yeah, suggest it in DJ Mixes. The boys on here will be happy tell everyone their mixes are being listened to all over the world!

Nice gesture this Danny- make's a nice change from all the usual bolloks on here.

Im up for this if you can let me know details. x

I asked Stew's bro and he said this:

Use your imagination to the full and think of a cross between Christmas stockings and tuck boxes and you will be on the right track. It's obviously really hot, so please do not send things that melt such as chocolate. Alcohol & porn are forbidden, but I know he got sent miniatures last Xmas.

Biscuits, cake, but think long life like fruitcake, gingerbread or malt loaf. Anything in a tube, vacuum pack or tin to perk up their rather basic rations is great - toffee sauce, (M&S does a good range of savoury and sweet sauces in tubes) condensed milk, salsa dip and cheese straws, cream cheese, fish paste, chutneys, chorizo sausage, dried fruit and nuts, mint imperials, chewing gum, Jelly Babies were really popular out there.

Soduko books and magazines – Nuts, Zoo and FHM are the most popular. They say no porn, but whenever you see clips of their tents, they are covered with Page 3 and FHM type posters so...also the Week for current affairs and any kind of magazine will be very welcome, the more varied the better as there is lots of time for reading and magazines get swapped and shared around.

Candles (for illumination, not scent), lip salve, moisturiser, medicated talc, deodorant, toothpaste, (the do travel sizes of most products in Boots and Superdrug), and cotton socks (M&S do a great range of cotton socks that are v. popular – black and olive green are good colours). They also have to drink vast quantities of water so any powder flavourings in a package like Berocca, Vitamin C sachets etc. would be both light and really appreciated. Finally old fashioned pick ‘n mix sweets are particularly recommended but please keep the contents within £10 for the sake of fairness to the others.

I'm off to do mine today!

Local army surplus store is collecting these....I'm going to do mine tomorrow and drop it in on monday!